If a burner was functioning properly and set to "rich", which component would be absent in the exhaust analysis?

When a burner is set to "rich," it means that there is an excess of fuel compared to the amount of air supplied for combustion. In such a scenario, the expectation is that there will be insufficient oxygen available for complete combustion. As a result, less oxygen will be present in the exhaust gas analysis.

During combustion, if there is enough fuel and not enough oxygen, the combustion process will produce byproducts that indicate incomplete combustion, such as carbon monoxide (CO), and the consumption of oxygen will not occur as extensively due to its limited availability. Therefore, the exhaust will show a significantly reduced amount of oxygen, confirming that it is indeed absent or very low in the exhaust gases produced when the burner operates under these rich fuel conditions.

In contrast, CO2 and H2O are typically present in the exhaust when fuel undergoes combustion, regardless of the fuel-to-air ratio. N2, mainly coming from the air, would still be present as a major component of the exhaust gas since it does not participate in the combustion reaction. Thus, the correct understanding here is that in a rich condition, O2 will be the component absent from the exhaust analysis.